Petrol subsidy ends after President Buhari signs PIB, Sylva declares

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, on Monday, said the approval of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) by President Muhammadu Buhari will end petrol subsidy in Nigeria.

Sylva made this known while speaking at the Nigeria/Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries; 50 Years of Partnership press briefing in Abuja.

The Minister insisted that it was best for Nigeria that the Federal Government ended petrol subsidy, stating that the newly passed PIB had no provision for subsidy.

He said, “This (subsidy removal) is desirable for the interest and growth of Nigeria. Of course, everybody will have their perspectives, but from where I sit, I believe that subsidy removal is the best thing for Nigeria, not just the industry.

“So far, the discussions with stakeholders are still ongoing. But I will also bring it to your attention that today, when the President assents to the PIB, subsidy will become a matter of law, because it is already in the PIB that petroleum products will be sold at market determined prices.

“The removal of subsidy has the potential of unlocking a lot more funds from deployment to development. Unfortunately, what we are doing by way of subsidy is like cutting our nose to spite our face.”

Sylva added that the government would commence the rehabilitation of the Warri and Kaduna refineries soon so as to increase domestic refining of petrol and to mitigate the effect of subsidy removal.

The Petroleum Minister said the OPEC quota given to Nigeria for crude oil production in June 2021 was 1.554 million barrels per day and that the quota system had assisted in balancing oil prices worldwide.